Renting a game on PlayStation Now will cost between $2.99 and $19.99

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As we reported last night, Sony is set to roll out its PlayStation Now service as an open beta in North America on July 31. We’re expecting 100 games to be available to stream, taken from the huge library of PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 titles.

We don’t know what games will be available to play yet, but we do know how much they will cost to rent now. It seems Sony isn’t going to offer a service subscription option just yet, but each game will require a payment of between $2.99 and $19.99.

So how is Sony deciding on price for each title? That’s a good question and one the company has yet to answer so we’ll have to take an educated guess. It seems likely the price point will come down to two variables: the age of the game and the length of the rental period. So a PSOne game will cost less than a PS2 or PS3 game, but the price will also vary depending on whether you want to rent for a day, a week, or a month.

I’d imagine if you wanted to rent a PS3 title like The Last of Us for a month you’d pay the full $19.99. Where as if you wanted a PSOne game like Ape Escape for the same period it could be half that. And yes, that does sound expensive, which is why subscriptions are likely to become a popular option when Sony introduces them. If you can pay the same price as a PS Plus annual subscription and get access to a set number of games a month, it will be worth signing up.

How well PlayStation Now fairs with gamers will ultimately come down to the price of the service. $19.99 sounds very steep if it just gets you a game for a month, but that may be the price for a year. Everything will hopefully be revealed at the end of July, and no doubt if there’s uproar Sony can easily adjust pricing, roll out subscriptions quickly, or offer a few worthwhile incentives.